Ronda Rousey lands role in Stallone's 'Expendables 3'
12:39 p.m. EDT July 24, 2013
(Photo: Jayne Kamin-Oncea, USA TODAY Sports)
Ronda Rousey signed with the William Morris Endeavor talent agency earlier this year, and now she has her first major movie role.
The UFC's women's bantamweight champion has landed a role in the upcoming Expendables 3 action flick. Screenplay writer and star Sylvester Stallone announced the news late Tuesday on his official Twitter account.
Rousey is coming off yet another first-round armbar victory. She stopped Liz Carmouche in February in the main event of UFC 157, the first women's fight in UFC history. She currently is taping Season 18 of The Ultimate Fighter, which she'll coach opposite her fiercest rival, Miesha Tate. The two then will meet in a rematch for Rousey's title at UFC 168 in December in Las Vegas.
It is unknown when Rousey's work on Expendables 3 will begin or how extensive a role she will have in the film, which also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Jason Statham, Jackie Chan, Dolph Lundgren, Steven Seagal and former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture – essentially a who's who of Hollywood action stars.
The film currently is in pre-production and, according to the Internet Movie Database, has an expected release date of Aug. 15, 2014.
Rousey will not be the first UFC fighter to venture into movies, of course. Perhaps most famously – or infamously – UFC light heavyweight Quinton Jackson got a major role as B.A. Barracus in The A-Team. And because of his commitments to the film, "Rampage" had to delay a planned main event at UFC 107 in his home city of Memphis.
That left UFC President Dana White perturbed, and since then he frequently has questioned whether it's wise for his fighters to pass up the money they make fighting for the money they make in the movies – which he argues doesn't compare to their regular jobs.
Earlier this year, not long after she beat Carmouche, Rousey was rumored to be up for a spot in The Hunger Games sequel due out later this year starring Best Actress Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence.
"You know how I feel about the movie stuff," White told FUEL TV's UFC Tonight earlier this year. "The hard part is, even like the 'Rampage' thing – when 'Rampage' did the movie, it was Rampage's dream to be a part of The A-Team and everything else. I don't want to take away any opportunities away from Ronda, but at the same time, the thing that you have to keep in perspective is that her window of opportunity as a professional athlete is (small). She could make a zillion movies when this sport's over. And where she's really going to make the money is here fighting. I don't care if she's the lead role in 'The Hunger Games 2,' she would not make anywhere near, and I mean not even in the universe, to the money she makes fighting."
Rousey has been arguably the most marketable fighter in the UFC since her arrival from Strikeforce. She's been on the cover of ESPN Magazine's "Body Issue," UFC 360 magazine's cover, co-hosted "TMZ," been written up in Rolling Stone and Sports Illustrated, been on with Conan O'Brien and had her own behind-the-scenes special on Showtime.
A movie role would just add to her constantly expanding resume. The first Expendables movie made more than $100 million at the box office when it was released in August 2010. In August 2012, The Expendables 2 fell a little short of the original's mark, making just north of $85 million around the world.
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